Tool for rupturing film cartridges



Feb. 10-, 1970 P. J. KOEHLER TOOL FOR'RUPTURING' FILM CARTRIDGES Filed March. 7. 19 68 INVENTOR. 'PAUL J. KOEHLER ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent U.S. Cl. 22593 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rupturing tool comprising first jaw means to grip the film cartridge, second jaw means to grip the film roll and power means to separate one jaw from the other to fracture the cartridge to release the roll.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Tools for splitting or rupturing a shell or the like to free or expose the contents.

Description of the prior art To my knowledge, there is no prior art device for accomplishing the specific purpose hereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A simple, economical and reliable tool for quickly and easily splitting a photographic film cartridge so that the exposed film contained therein may be removed therefrom for developing and processing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a film cartridge rupturing tool embodying a preferred form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the tool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view similar to FIG. 1, the tool components being shown in the positions they assume immediately prior to the rupture of a cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view similar to FIG. 3, the tool components being shown in the positions they assume immediately following the rupture of a cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a film cartridge of the type contemplated for use with the tool of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the film cartridge of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The rupturing tool of the invention will be stationarily secured to a workbench or other suitable support and is designed to rupture film cartridges of the type shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 in order to free a roll of film from the cartridge for developing and processing.

The tool generally comprises first jaw means to grip the film cartridge, second jaw means to grip the filmroll, and power means to separate one jaw means from the other to release the roll from the cartridge.

The tool includes a vertically upright base frame member 10 and a horizontally-extending top frame member 12 fixed to the upper end of the base frame member and extending outwardly from one side edge thereof.

A bracket 14 is fixed to and extends horizontally outwardly from base frame member 10 and a bracket 16 is fixed to and extends horizontally outwardly from top frame member 12, the brackets serving as support means for securing the tool to a workbench, not shown.

An air cylinder 18, fixed to base frame member 10, has

a piston rod 20 extending outwardly from its upper end and mounted for vertical, up-and-down reciprocation.

Piston rod 20 is threaded as at 22 at its outermost free end whereby it may be threadedly engaged in a provided opening in a horizontally-extending base 24 of a film roll vise generally indicated by 26.

A pair of spaced end posts 28 and 30 extend vertically upwardly from the opposite ends of base 24 of the film roll vise.

A first journal pin 32 is fixed to and extends horizontally inwardly from end post 28 in spaced parallel relation to base 24.

A second journal pin 34 is slidably related to end post 30 in axially aligned relation to the first journal pin.

The second journal pin is fixed at its outermost end to an upright slide post 36 which is disposed in parallel relation to end post 30, the opposite end of the journal pin being slidably receivable in an opening 38 in the end post.

The lower end of slide post 36 is slidably related to a slide pin 40 fixed to and extending horizontally-outwardly from the lower end of end post 30, the slide pin having a head 42 at its outermost free end which functions as a stop to limit the range of outward movement of the slide post.

By this arrangement, slide post 36 is slidable along and relative to slide pin 40 wherefore second journal pin 34 may be moved toward and away from first journal pin 32.

A slide bar 44, mounted for manual reciprocation along and relative to the upper surface of top frame member 12 by means of a handle 46, has a pin 48 extending horizontally-outwardly therefrom and adapted to contact slide post 36 when slide bar 44 is moved to the right (as seen in the drawing), thereby to move second journal pin 34 toward first journal pin 32, for purposes to appear.

Slide bar 44 has a key 50 depending from its lower surface and extending through a keyway 52 provided in the top frame member.

A cam plate 54, fixed to slide bar 44 by pins 55, is dis posed in face-to-face relation to the lower surface of the top frame member and has a cam 56 on its lower surface.

As slide bar 44 is moved relative to the top frame member, the cam plate is moved concurrently therewith, key 50 sliding in keyway 52 in the top frame member.

Cam 56 is engageable with a spring-loaded hardened ball 58 provided in the end of a first bleeder operator 60 and is engageable with a spring-loaded hardened ball 62 provided in the end of a second bleeder operator 64, the bleeder operators being fixed to a support bar 66 which extends between base frame member 10 and bracket 16.

An air bleeder valve 68, operatively connected to each end of air cylinder 18, is additionally connected at one of its ends by a flexible hose line 70 to first bleeder operator 60 and is connected at its opposite end by a flexible hose line 72 to second bleeder operator 64.

The operation of bleeder valve 68 is similar to that of a pilot valve in that air pressure is used to shift a valve spool. In a bleeder valve, however, internal line pressure is used, rather than external pilot pressure.

Line pressure is admitted to both ends of the spool through internal coring in the valve, not shown. Since the areas at each end are equal, the resultant thrusts are balanced. Bleeding air from either end upsets the balance, and causes the valve to shift toward the bled end, or lower pressure end.

The valve stays shifted until such time as the pressure is bled off the other end, causing another pressure imbalance and consequent valve shift.

The air bleeding is accomplished by means of the bleeder operators 60 and 64 which are mounted in a re- 3 mote location and piped to the main bleeder valve by the hose lines 70 and 72, the bleeders being actuated when cam 56 on cam plate 54 strikes the balls 58 and 62.

Thus, movement of slide bar 44 causes cam plate 54 to move, whereby its cam 56 contacts first ball 58 and then ball 62 to lower or raise piston 20 of air cylinder 18, thereby to cause concomitant movement of film roll vise 26.

Pressurized air is fed to air bleeder valve 68 through a supply line 74, the supply line having a regulating valve 76 interposed therein along its length.

The lower surface of slide bar 44 is undercut at its innermost end to provide a jaw 78 disposed in spaced parallel relation to top frame member 12 and separated therefrom by a rectangular space 80.

The film cartridge, of the type now commercially available, facilitates camera loading, in that it is simply snapped into place in the camera, but complicates the film processors job, in that considerable difficulty has been encountered in removing the expressed film from the cartridge for developing and further processing.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the film cartridge gen erally indicated by 90, is formed from plastic and comprises mating upper and lower half portions, 92 and 94 respectively, the lower half portion including a pair of spaced semi-cylindrical housings, namely, a film supply housing 96 containing a film supply roll 98 and a film take-up reel housing 100 containing a film take-up reel 102.

When all the film F has been moved from supply roll 98 to take-up reel 102, the take-up reel must be removed from the cartridge so that the exposed film thereon may be processed. This is accomplished with ease with the tool of the invention.

The cartridge is placed on top frame member 12 so that film supply housing 96 is disposed at the rear of the frame member and take-up reel housing 100- is disposed at the front thereof so as to overlie film roll vise 26.

The normal position of the film roll vise is the raised position shown in FIG. 3. That is to say, when the system is pressurized, piston rod 20 of cylinder 18 is extended rather than retracted.

In this raised position, the journal pins 32 and 34 of the vise are axially aligned with the axis of the film take up reel 102.

Slide bar 44 is now moved to the right (as seen in the drawing), so that jaw 78 thereof overlies the cartridge, the latter being received in the slot or space 80 of the slide bar.

Since fil-m roll vise 26 is in the raised position, one end of the film take-up reel may be sleeved upon first journal pin 32.

Movement of slide bar 44 to the right brings pin 48 into contact with slide post 36, to move the slide post to the right until it abuts end post 30, at which time journal pin 34 is firmly engaged in the opposite end of the take-up reel.

This movement of the slide bar causes cam 56 on cam plate 54 to strike ball 62 of second bleeder operator 64, thereby bleeding one end of bleeder valve 68 to retract piston rod 20.

Retraction of the piston rod pulls vise 26 downwardly. Since the journal pins of the vise are engaged in the ends of the take-up film reel, and since the cartridge is locked to top frame member 12 by slide bar 44, the takeup reel is literally torn from the cartridge as the vise moves downwardly.

Actually, the cartridge splits at the seam where the upper and lower half portions 92 and 94 meet, with take-up reel housing being torn from the cartridge.

Slide bar 44 is now moved to the left to free the empty cartridge which is removed from the top frame member and discarded.

Movement of the slide bar to the left causes cam 56 on cam plate 54 to strike ball 58 on first bleeder operator 60, thereby bleeding the opposite end of bleeder valve 68 to extend the piston rod and to raise vise 26 in preparation for the next cartridge.

The film may then unwound from the take-up reel, since the reel is free to rotate on the journal pins.

To remove the empty reel, the slide post is simply moved to the left along slide pin 40 to move second journal pin 34 from its engagement with the reel.

Since movement 'of the slide bar controls actuation of the air cylinder, the operator can control the speed of operation of the tool.

I claim:

1. A tool for rupturing cartridges of the type containing a roll of photographic film comprising, first jaw means for gripping the cartridge, second jaw means for gripping the film roll, power means for moving one jaw relative to the other and control means for controlling the actuation of said power means, movement of said one jaw away from the other fracturing the cartridge to release the film roll.

2. A tool according to claim 1, wherein the second jaw means is a film roll vise and wherein said power means is an air cylinder having a piston connected to said film roll vise.

3. A tool according to claim 1, wherein said control means is integral with said first jaw means and wherein actuation of said power means is dictated by movement of said first jaw means.

4. A tool according to claim 1, including a verticallyupright base frame member, a horizontally-extending top frame member fixed to the upper end of the base frame member, said first jaw means being mounted for slidable horizontal reciprocation along and relative to said top frame member, and said second jaw means being mounted for slidable vertical reciprocation relative to said base frame member.

5. A tool according to claim 1, wherein said control means comprises an air bleeder valve operatively connected to said power means, a pair of air bleeder operators operatively connected to said air bleeder valve, and an actuator on said first jaw means selectively engageable with said air bleeder operators.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,265,263 8/1966 Lafontant et al. 2252 3,411,682 11/1968 Leader et al. 22593 JAMES M. MEISTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 29200 

